Thursday, December 6, 2012

Bajaj v. TVS: Chennai Patent Office Rejects Bajaj’s Pre-grant Opposition to TVS Patent Application


In a 13-page order dated November 21, 2012, the Chennai Patent Office rejected Bajaj Auto Limited’s pre-grant opposition against TVS’s application numbered 78/CHE/2004 on “Automatic Device for Providing Optimum Ignition Timing Characteristics for SI Engines”. Under Rule 55(6), a patent was granted to TVS.

The copy of the order which has been uploaded on the website of the Patent Office is not reader-friendly since portions of the order are missing. Also, the order does not make itself amenable to analysis since the prior art references (cited by Bajaj) alluded to in the order have not been identified.

I would be grateful to readers if someone could share with me the references cited by Bajaj against TVS’s application.

In all likelihood, Bajaj is bound to appeal against the grant of the patent or file a post-grant opposition. This promises to be yet another battle between the two-wheeler giants.

4 comments:

  1. // ... In all likelihood, Bajaj is bound to appeal against the grant of the patent or file a post-grant opposition ...//

    Can opponent appeal the decision? If yes, where he would appeal? IPAB???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Guna,
      In an earlier post titled "Does a Pre-Grant Opponent Have a right of Appeal before the IPAB" (http://thedemandingmistress.blogspot.in/2012/09/does-pre-grant-opponent-have-right-of.html), I had discussed the issue. I believe it is possible for a pre-grant opponent to file an appeal before the IPAB.

      Best Regards,
      Sai.

      Delete
  2. Sir,

    The file uploaded to the related link, at the link titled '78-che-2004 pre grant opposition-1 09-06-2011.pdf' contains all the prior arts and arguments cited by Bajaj.

    Hope it helps.

    Really looking forward for another interesting clash of the titans ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anon! Another reader of the blog a senior practitioner was kind enough to share the documents with me.

      Best Regards,
      Sai.

      Delete